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long and troublesome job, it would
cost too much, the complications
would be too great.
Yet when the time came the thing
Was done in thirty minutes and with
child-likd ease. The government
merely announced that it would take
the railroads, guarantee to stock
holders the dividends they had re
ceived the year before and pay the
interest on the bonds.
That was all there was to it The
railroads passed into the govern
ment's hands and have remained
there ever since. The government
needed the best possible service and
took this way to get what it needed,
sweeping away a thousand fine-spun
theories.
To provide for actual operation it
formed a Railroad Committee com
posed of its representatives and the"
managers of the important lines;
these administer the whole system.
Conservative and reactionary
minds, recovering from this shock,
now assert that the government has
taken the railroads for the period q
the war only, and with peace the
properties will be returned to the
companies.
Will they? I have been looking
into that, and I have practically the
highest authority in the country for
saying that they will not.
The change has come to stay.
When the war is over the system will
pass definitely and permanently into
national ownership.
And high time too; for private
ownership has made of these roads
a sorry hash. They are badly man
aged, they are enormously overcap
italized; and for several years some
of them have with difficulty kept
afloat
The government had applied the
limit of the "regulation" we so much
admire and this was the result.
But when the war is over and these
railroads become permanent national
property some new and puzzling
problems will be create
At present the British railroad
rates, because of overcapitalization
and the great cost of construction,
are very high. Under private owner
ship some of the lines have deterio
rated in roadbed and equipment If
the government buys the railroad on
the basis of .the present capitaliza
tion, or if it continues the present
plan of guaranteeing dividends, the
first question will be whether it can
reduce the extortionate rates and
make the needed improvements.
There will also be difficult ques
tions about the employes. Under pri
vate ownership these have been badly
treated and badly paid, and the dis
content always rife among them has
had memorable outbreaks.
With extreme difficulty the railroad
companies have been able to keep the
men down to poor pay and long
hours. As soon as the government
took charge it was obliged to grant a
20 per cent increase of wages as a
temporary war bonus. It will never
be able to rescind this when the war
ends and it can look for further de
mands for better conditions. How it
can grant them with the present ex
travagant railroad capitalization no
man can see.
For the fact is, the whole working
population of Great Britain is restless
and uneasy. It already 'sees a a re
sult of the war a rapid increase in the
cost of living while enormous for
tunes are being made by manufactur
ers and contractors. The price of
bread had advanced 50 per cent in
nine months. The price of coal had
advanced about as much. But the
mine owners, millers, wheat factors
and big baking establishments are
published as making great profits.
Except in industries directly affected
the workers are getting peace time
prices for their day's work. They are
in nocmood to stand much more of
this, patriotism or no patriotism.
Already there are ominous signs,
such as the protests of the postoffice
employes and the strike vote of the
Welsh, mjaers, We are aow having